Tauranga candidates hoping to appeal to the youth vote gathered at Aquinas College this week to face questions from students and drum up support ahead of the general election. Aquinas College student Lilli Scott was there and shares her thoughts on the candidate's efforts.
Tauranga election candidates are attempting to spark interest in voting among youths through discussions at local schools.
With the election date looming closer, candidates from the major political parties attended a political forum held at Aquinas College on Wednesday.
The attendees included Jan Tinetti from Labour, Simon Bridges from National, Emma-Leigh Hodge from Greens, Clayton Mitchell from New Zealand First and Stuart Pedersen from Act.
They all discussed the most relevant policies for young adults, most of which surrounded education and student allowance.
Although the candidates had different opinions on these issues, they all shared a mutual aim to encourage the upcoming generation of voters to have a political voice.
Young people are under-represented in voting statistics as a shocking 37.27 per cent of registered voters between ages 18 to 24 failed to vote in the last election.